Many devices have been employed for utilizing earthworms to convert organic waste to environmentally compatible products, such as vermicompost. Some devices are used for household waste and some are used for converting large commercial volumes of organic waste, including agriculture, sludge and municipal waste.
US 2003/0059931, for example, discloses a composting apparatus that includes a housing and a plurality of composting drawers in a stacked relationship within the housing. Compostable material and composting organisms are received within each drawer, and the bottom region of each drawer has a plurality of apertures sized to permit the composted material to pass therethrough. A plurality of receiving structures within the housing are respectively disposed under the drawers to receive the composted material. After the macro-organisms migrate toward the top of each drawer to access and process fresh compostable material and the bottom layer of the composted material is removed, all material including the macro-organisms in the drawer moves downward for reuse.
EP 0196887 discloses a composting plant comprises a cruciform-type breaker bar unit for moving the bottom layer of worm processed compost through the perforated floor of the plant.
IN 1579CHE2011 discloses a vermicomposting system that comprises a plurality of parallel stacks arranged between a loading module and an unloading module, and a plurality of vermicomposting modules mounted in each stack. The stack is inclined downwardly towards the unloading module. The slope of the stack is based on the desired rate of free movement of the vermicomposting modules under gravity along the stack from the loading module end to the unloading module end.
The devices of the aforementioned publications are intended to generate compost and not to harvest worms, particularly since the discharged compost is substantially worm free and most of the worms are retained in the remaining biomass which is not climate controlled.
It is an object of the present invention to provide worm harvesting apparatus for optimizing growth of worms from organic waste introduced thereto.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide worm harvesting apparatus for facilitating removal of fully grown worms as well as worm processed byproducts.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide worm harvesting apparatus that significantly reduces the amount of manual labor that is needed to harvest worms, relative to prior art apparatus.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the description proceeds.